I talked through the information I got from Martha with Alex and Jane. They quickly came to the same conclusion. The group behind Redrock and the [Organizer] were planning to create conflict with the dwarves by hindering trade and eventually going to war to steal the secrets of artificing. Alex reprimanded me for being so open with what was clearly a spy. I countered by telling her she was most likely working for the Church. That did not help at all. I had to sit through a three-hour lesson on why keeping secrets is important around humans. Jane sat through all of it, snickering to herself. I could not take it seriously thanks to that.

At least we all agreed that my taking this mission from Gregor was correct. I would assassinate Locust of Redrock. I decided to look for the [Spymaster] and ask him about the noble’s habits. I did not want to sit there for a month scouting out a good opportunity when I had a network of spies willing to help me out. If he did not have enough for me to take a shot, I would as Martha for some help as well.

Finding the man himself was definitely an issue with his capability for disguises. I decided to simply visit the restaurant where we met two days ago and look for him there. I asked a waiter who told me he could forward a message so I gave him the address of my inn and had him tell Gregor to pay me a visit.

Later that evening, there was a knock on our door. Our whole group was sitting together to wait for the food. Circe opened up and two boys started carrying the plates and stacking them. I quickly realized there was one additional serving. The first boy left downstairs while the second one brought in another chair and stood behind it.

“I apologize for inviting myself”, he said with a flourish, “but you did ask me to visit.”

I tilted my head.

“Gregor?”

A quick [Hidden Identify] confirmed it. He was the [Spymaster].

Alex narrowed her eyes.

“And you’re coming right during dinner? I hope you’re paying for yourself.”

“Of course. I took the liberty of settling tonight’s bill ahead of time. For all of you.”

“Thanks!”, Circe grinned, “Now let’s eat!”

Gregor inclined his head and sat down. The meal was quiet for most of the time until the [Spymaster] started asking roundabout questions about my progress. I quickly got fed up.

“I’m taking the mission, Dolos”, I said, “I need all info you have on Redrock’s habits and protections.”

“Oh. That’s good. I… will have it sent here tomorrow. If you need anything else, you know how to contact me.”

I nodded.

The conversation devolved into small talk for the rest of the evening. Alex asked some pointed questions which Gregor nimbly dodged. It was honestly quite entertaining. In the end, she gave him the copy of the [Organizer]’s documents we wrote up from my memory. I had been surprised how well I remembered it until I looked into my soul. My human part had physically written it down in out metaphysical nest/house combo and was reading it back to my mind. That had some interesting implications but I pushed it to the side for the time being.

I went through the information on Redrock the next morning. This part, I was doing by myself. There was little the others could help me with. After all, I was the [Assassin]. Alex might have something to offer from her military background but she was out with Hera and Circe.

Locust of Redrock was a level 178 [Grand Overseer]. He was believed to have his Attributes distributed somewhat evenly with a slight focus on Constitution and Intelligence. That gave me a good chance to have my Strength of 39 close to his Constitution. I had the option to go with a good old talon-to-the-throat for the kill. He had paid for a Church thaumaturge to ward his private quarters and office against intrusion and observation. That was not unusual for the richest nobles which he belonged to. They were competing against each other, after all.

The big tell was his public behaviour. He was known as an avid speaker against the peaceful politics directed toward the Dwarven Hills. He and his supporters also bought up most of the few trinkets that reached Eterios from Trade Town. The group had a history of trying to hide a [Thaumaturge] from the Church for which one of their members had been stripped of his riches. The others could not be incriminated for lack of evidence. Still, his social contacts were mostly limited to the people now gathered around my target.

There were some short descriptions on those as well but most of them seemed to simply be in it for the money. The intel here was much thinner. Maybe Gregor was scared I would go on some kind of cleaning spree?

As for his behaviour, Redrock was well organized but able to adjust to spontaneous changes. Most of his days were spent in his office or socializing with his allies. I considered getting into one of those gatherings with the help of the Church or Gregor but decided against it. It would be much easier to sneak into his home while he was out and find a place to ambush him when he returned.

That seemed like a solid plan, especially if I could get inside the warded area. I decided to ask Jane about the wards and if there was a standard with some easy way to bypass it. She told me every [Thaumaturge] did their own thing. While always slightly similar due to shared teachers, every ward had its own flavour. She told me I could go and ask the local Cleric if he knew who had made it but with the man’s reaction to my last appearance, I was not very interested. Instead, I decided to simply do it the old way. Why fix something that was not broken?

I asked Gregor to tell me the times Redrock would leave his home in the near future and learned I would have a chance only two days later. This first one would be used for scouting unless an opportunity presented itself.

I was sitting on the same branch I had used to scout the mansion a few days earlier. My Skills were running to make me appear like a normal owl once again. It was late afternoon and I could hear a lot of people working in the house. I had thought about contacting Martha. Maybe she had more info on the ward in Redrock’s quarters. I decided against it in the end. There was a good chance I could figure it out on my own.

A carriage was standing ready in front of the main entrance. There was a circular driveway so it would not have to block the street. I watched my target leave his home in company of his wife and son as well as two bodyguards. I refrained from identifying anyone but the man in question.

[Identify]

Species: Human (Adult)

Age: 51

Name: Locust of Redrock

Gender: male

Status: healthy, sapient, vis enriched (minor)

Level: 35

Class: [Grand Overseer], -

Nothing too unexpected. The enrichment was something his parents had bought him when he was ten. It had taken 20 years and several thousand gold coins to get there. Many nobles were like him, at least the super-rich. Only the [King] and his [Lord]s were not required to pay. They were considered Church servants.

I watched them leave for some kind of party and waited for a bit until the building had calmed down. With the noble gone, the servants were quickly finding relaxation instead of work.

Eventually, I flew around the building to look for easy entry. An open window or something like that would have been great. There were some but none anywhere near the office. I decided to simply shift into an empty room two windows down from the ward.

I found myself in a bedroom. An opulent king-sized bed stood on the wall and a door led to a fancy bathroom away from the ward. Another door led towards it and I found a walk-in closet. It even had a direct way through to the private quarters of Redrock. The closet was mostly dresses and fancy shoes with a few cloaks and hats here and there. Did his wife have a separate bed? Or was this just in case they had a fight?

No matter the reason, I had a wonderfully closed-off area to inspect the ward. It did not matter where I was as long as I could surprise him in his sanctum but the bedroom was probably the best option. I made sure I could quickly shift outside the closet window before getting to work.

The ward was sadly not a basic thing like the orks commonly used. It did not simply scan for anything that moved and zapped it with magic. Instead, it projected a barrier of sorts all around the protected area. There were two main purposes to it. Obfuscation and obstruction. The obfuscation part did not appear important but it prevented me from seeing the inside of the room with my magical senses. Even if the curtains were open, I would not be able to look in from the outside. It made my task a little more difficult right now.

The real obstacle, though, was the obstruction. It was not trying to prevent anyone from passing into the place. That would have taken way too much vis. Instead, it was observing the soul of the individual trying to pass through. Most likely there was some way to key-in a person and have them allowed inside. It almost felt like a simplistic replication of [Identify]. And when the intruder was not keyed-in, the barrier would activate. It would attack the person in question with what appeared to be lightning and close off at the same time.

That much was easy to decipher from the way the vis flowed through the warded area. It was a simple intent written into the magic. The issue came from figuring out how to pass by the protection. I quickly discarded the idea of slipping through undetected somehow. Maybe I could have brought [Mingling] to Breakthrough and somehow present my soul as that of someone else but… That was a good idea. It was sadly very unreliable. Getting a Skill to rank three could take weeks, easily.

The second option was to somehow find the source powering the ward and disable it. Most likely, it was inside. Even if it was not, I would have a hard time finding it with the obfuscation blocking my senses from seeing the flow of the vis. I barely got enough to define the aspects and their intent.

The third option was to somehow exhaust the obstruction without being noticed. That was stupid and I discarded it right away.

I decided to carefully look around at least a little. Maybe the power was somehow hidden in an easy-to-find spot. But I had no luck. Even listening to the servants talking brought no new options. I learned only one maid was even allowed inside the warded area. And only under direct supervision of Redrock. Many were referring to her as his concubine. Some accused her of having a Class aligned with serving sexually. There was a lot of gossip.

I scouted out potential hiding places on the main hallways the noble likely took and found a few options. Maybe I would just take the simple approach. There was one corner next to a window where a stone statue of a hawk stood. Replacing that was an option if I found nothing else.

For the time being, I returned to the inn. Now that I had some ideas and my only real problem was of thaumaturgical nature, Alex would be of great help. And maybe Jane as well.